SWIFT survey finds only 39% of banks confirm payments in real-time

Brussels, 8 December 2014 - New survey from SWIFT reveals that only 39% banks have their payments confirmed in real-time by their Nostro service providers, which is a critical step for banks to meet the intraday liquidity monitoring rules set out by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) in April 2013. The survey of 150 industry professionals evaluates the implementation status of the BCBS monitoring tools for intraday liquidity at financial institutions. The survey also captures market views on collaborative solutions as a means to drive down implementation costs.

With banks expected to start using the monitoring tools from January 2015*, only 68% of respondents have started a project of which 31% of banks surveyed are at the implementation stage. Meanwhile, 37% have started an initial evaluation of their readiness, leaving 32% of banks currently without a process. The survey also shows that many countries have not yet translated the tools into detailed requirements, steering the industry towards a short term pragmatic approach.

Additional key findings from the report include:

74% of banks will use the credit/debit confirmations (MT 900/910) in the first instance to build their liquidity monitoring tools

42% of respondents confirmed that they do not have a global view of the intraday liquidity usage for their Nostro accounts

89% of market participants surveyed are supportive of a collaborative approach to reduce the overall implementation cost for the industry and speed up issues resolution.

Catherine Banneux, Senior Market Manager at SWIFT says: "The industry is moving in the right direction, but with a large number of banks still evaluating or without a plan for their BCBS liquidity monitoring project, there is a lot more progress to be made. SWIFT can help banks with these projects by providing a set of pragmatic solutions that leverage existing infrastructures and data formats."

* The BCBS recommendation intends for banks to start using the monitoring tools for reporting from January 2015, with full implementation by January 2017 (conditional to the national regulator's authorization)

About SWIFT
SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,500 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. SWIFT enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. SWIFT also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.